Pokemon: Aliea's Journey
by pineapple-pi
Summary: When Aliea saves a wounded Pokemon from humans in a mine, her troubles are only just beginning. With a team-full of "spirited" pokemon, her highly disapproving father and an impending religious conflict on the horizon, you can see why her dream to compete in the Pokemon League looks a little shaky.
1. In the Beginning

Chapter 1

The morning of my sixteenth birthday dawned bright and horribly early. I lay in bed for a few moments, taking in possibly for the last time the room that had been mine since I was born. My dressing table was almost overflowing with birthday cards, and any spare space was crammed with items for my journey that had yet to be packed. Rolling over, I tentatively peeked out of the window, sighing happily as I took in the bright Hoenn sunshine. It was then that I noticed something on the old armchair next to my bed, the one Mum used to sit on when she would rock me to sleep before she vanished. It was unmistakeably a present, but one so perfectly wrapped that my father must have had it done professionally rather than bother to do so himself. It was a small box adorned with gaudy ribbon, about half the size of a Cleffa.

Downstairs the gong sounded to signal fifteen minutes until breakfast was served. I quickly jumped out of bed and all but hurled myself into the shower, quickly washing and drying my long dark hair before restraining it in its customary ponytail. As I looked around for my boots I struggled into my shorts and strappy top, before seizing my rucksack and stuffing the remaining item haphazardly into it. Last to go into my bag, almost as an afterthought, was the present on the chair beside my bed. I rushed down the stairs as the gong for breakfast sounded; having one last check that I had everything I needed before I entered the dining room.

My father's Houndoom growled at me as I entered the room. He was already seated at one end of the long mahogany table that stretched the length of the room, his face buried behind the morning paper. The only concession to it being his only child's birthday was the cupcake waiting for me, the candle marginally less bright than the Litwick which inhabited the candelabra. I reached out and snagged a Pecha berry from the bowl in the middle of the table, carefully slicing it to avoid bruising the flesh. I was onto my second berry before my father signed, carefully folded the paper and regarded me critically;

"So, you've finally turned sixteen"

I remained silent, what was the answer to that?

"Before you begin your journey, I would like you to accompany me to the mine this morning, so you have a better understanding of at least part of the company which you will one day lead"

I opened my mouth to protest, but he cut me off,

"That wasn't a request, Aliea, you will be accompanying me."

I sighed, there was no point protesting further, it would only worsen his mood and I would like for us to part on relatively good terms. I was just worried about delaying my journey any further, Trainer registration closed at five in the afternoon and I was dead set against postponing my adventure for even one more day.

The rest of breakfast passed in near complete silence, the happy giggle of one of the Litwick as it 'liberated' the candle from my cupcake being the only sound, bar that of the cutlery.

After breakfast I returned to my room one last time, collecting my jacket from the foot of my bed, and buckling around my waist my Trainer Belt which currently had six empty Pokéballs resting in their little niches. I sighed, allowing myself to imagine the Pokémon which would one day inhabit those balls.

"Aliea!" my father's call echoed up the stairs.

"Just coming" I replied, snapping out of my reverie and heading back downstairs.

Standing outside the front door, my father released his Fearow, another rare Pokémon here in Hoenn, and motioned for me to climb on in front of him. I loved the sudden exhilaration as Fearow powered away from the ground with powerful strokes of its broad wings, circling once over the house and gardens before heading towards the distant mountains.

Whilst I loved flying, by the time we landed a few hours later I was stiff, tired and very thirsty. My father recalled Fearow and we made our way into the cool, dim interior of the mine. I found myself in a rough-hewn hall, easily large enough to let a Charizard fly about within it. All around the hall were scattered the entrances to smaller tunnels, and a wooden platform spiralled around the edges of the hall providing access to the higher tunnels. In the background was the low throb of machinery, occasionally punctuated by a shouted command or the sharp rattle of a mine-cart.

My father began walking to and fro, directing my attention to various (apparent) object of interest, the sorter, the processor, the refiner and a million other machines; so it was with some relief that I noticed a mine supervisor hurry up to him and engage him in a panicked whisper. My father quickly turned and informed me that I would have to amuse myself for half an hour or so, before striding off with the supervisor in tow, discussing pit props and water levels in agitated voices.

So it was that I was left on my own, and set about the seemingly impossible task of finding a comfy rock on which to perch whilst I waited. I was inwardly fuming about time wasted when I could be off on my journey, when some cursing and yelling brought me back to the present. I stood up curiously; noting that the noise seemed to be coming from a tunnel located a little way to my left. Cautiously I approached.

"You useless piece of dirt!"

"Vermin!"

"Now we have to waste our time fixing the bloody track!"

"We're gonna make you pay for this you stupid whelp!"

Then a thump and a weak cry. I peered further round the corner, a group of men was surrounding something on the floor, but through the solid wall of bodies I couldn't make the object out. A man went to kick it again, and again came the cry, this time nearly drowned out by the cruel laughter and jeering.

"Stop!" I yelled, "What in the name of Arceus do you think you're doing?"

Definitely not the cleverest thing I'd ever done, I considered as what appeared to be the ringleader turned slowly towards me,

"Wait, is that a Pokémon?!" I was horrified, who were these people to intentionally injure a Pokémon like that?

As the leader stepped towards me, I finally got a glimpse of what the 'object' was. It was indeed a Pokémon. Lying on its side, bruised, battered and obviously in pain, was a tiny Aron.

"It's a useless waste of space" spat the leader, "chewing through the rails so we have to go replace them"

"It's not like it did it just to annoy you! The poor thing was probably just hungry" I retaliated,

"Yeah? Well hungry or not, we're going to teach it to leave these rails alone" the man grinned, as he turned away from me and aimed another kick at the prone Pokémon.

Just before his foot connected, I tore a Pokéball from my belt and hurled it at the Aron. The Aron disappeared in a flash of red, too weak to fight its capture, and the Pokéball returned to my hand.

As one the men turned to face me.

"Someone is going to pay for that" the ringleader growled as he reached for a Pokéball on his own belt, "and something tells me it's going to be you. Go, Vigoroth!"

Not waiting to see the vicious white primate materialise behind me, I wheeled around and sprinted further into the tunnel. Behind me I could hear the wild shouts of the men and the quick footsteps of the Vigoroth as it pursued me ever deeper into the labyrinth.

Panting, tripping, clutching the Aron's Pokéball close to my chest as I ran in the strange grey twilight that seemed to exist in the tunnels. After a while the Vigoroth seemed to fall back slightly, although I could still hear the shouts of encouragement behind me. I didn't blame the Pokémon for slowing, my lungs were burning and I was sorely in need of a rest. I ducked into the next tunnel and slowly jogged along it, the light seeming to face a little more with every step. I continued until it was so dark that I could no longer see my feet, the tunnel walls, even my hand in front of my face. Far along the length of the tunnel I eventually saw the Vigoroth and its followers make their way past the entrance of my tunnel without so much as glancing my way. I sank to the floor cradling the Pokéball, exhausted and lost. Not the triumphant manner in which I had imagined starting my journey.

A pair of glowing eyes suddenly appeared next to me, I tried to scream but it was as though my body wouldn't, or couldn't, obey me. I was frozen, with some unknown assailant mere inches from me. A clawed hand reached towards me, and then the world went white.

A/N Ok guys, hello and welcome to my first Pokémon fanfic! I'm trying to do something slightly more interesting than some of the journey fics you read, I hope you enjoy it

Just some quick "housekeeping" to deal with:

Firstly, I am capitalising a Pokémon's name if it refers to a specific individual of the species (eg. the Aron turned and looked at me) and I'm leaving it as lower case when it refers to them more generally (eg. "I love aron!" Casey squealed).

Secondly, here people begin their journeys when they are 16, having a bunch of unsupervised 10 year olds running around the countryside never seemed like a good idea to me :P

Anyway I'll let you get back to the story now, as always reviews are much appreciated! Any comments, ideas, criticisms, teams Aliea should meet or fight…. You get the gist; just talk to me if you have a moment again, thanks for reading x


	2. Of Zubat and Psychic Types

Chapter 2

I staggered as my feet hit the floor, jarring my knees painfully against the ground. I lay still for a second before the adrenalin rushing through my veins forced me upright. I looked around. Deep forest surrounded me, green light filtering through the leaves far overhead. The sounds that had made up the background of my life thus far; the bickering of Taillow, the sharp cries of Zigzagoon, even the low throb of Nincadas; were noticeably absent. I was lost in an utterly unknown place, goodness knows how far from civilisation. I didn't even have a Pokémon capable of protecting me. My heart twisted as I remembered how injured Aron had been, although Pokéballs effectively slowed down time for the occupant, I still didn't know how long I had to get it to a Pokémon Centre. That had to be my priority.

I set my Pokédex down on the loamy ground, and spun it once. Although it had a compass feature, without knowing where I was, it was next to useless. It came to a halt, and I set off in the direction it pointed. The direction the Pokédex had pointed me in must have been east, as the setting sun was behind me as I trudged onwards. I knew I should set up camp, being caught without a shelter at night was stupid, but I stubbornly kept going, hoping against hope to find a Centre for my Aron.

High pitched chatter up ahead brought me to a stumbling halt. I watched as Zubat after Zubat poured out of a desiccated tree stump, whirling up into the night sky to form a thick cloud above me. I took a step back, hoping to get a clearer view through the leaves, and felt my foot slip on the carpet of wet leaves. With a cry, I went over backwards, scraping my arm painfully on a tree trunk. My eyes watering, I looked back up at the Zubat. The flock seemed to freeze for a moment, then with deadly precision, wheeled to face me. I turned and ran, crashing through the undergrowth as the Zubat gave chase, effortlessly winging their way through the dense branches.

Ahead I thought I saw a glimmer of light, and desperately headed towards it, praying that there was someone there to help me. I burst into the tiny clearing and threw myself to the ground as a pulse of brilliant light flashed overhead. A trainer stood in the middle of the clearing, clearly having been woken by the noise. Beside him were two Pokémon, busy driving the Zubat away from the campsite. Although the Kadabra and Kirlia were both individually more than a match for a Zubat, the sheer number of them made this operation far from easy. After a few chaotic minutes however, the battle was clearly going badly for the Zubat, and with raucous, angry cries they whirled away into the sky.

"Are you ok? You gave us all a surprise with an entrance like that" the trainer grinned, he looked to be about 20 with messy brown hair,

"I think I'm ok, but my Aron is badly hurt", I was shaken but otherwise fine, or so I thought until the trainer pointed to a dark stain on my sleeve,

"No wonder the Zubat were so determined to get to you, they're like Sharpedo, the smell of blood drives them crazy". He carefully examined the cut, then cleaned it and wrapped a bandage around it.

"Now call out your Aron" he told me. When it appeared from the Pokéball I couldn't help but gasp, it was in an even more pitiful condition than I had remembered, and it's breathing was barely noticeable.

The trainer swore, "I don't think I've ever seen a Pokémon in this bad a state" he turned to address his Kirlia, "Leia, can you do anything to help the poor thing?"

The Kirlia reached out and touched the Aron lying prone on the ground, after a few seconds of silence she shook her head sadly, "Ki...".

He sighed, "Leia says he needs a Pokécentre, and that we don't have too much time to get him there"

He swung to his feet, and tossed his rucksack towards me. "Here, use one of the Super Potions on him, but I wouldn't use a Revive, let the poor thing remain oblivious" he called as he quickly packed up his meagre camp. He was obviously practiced at it, as the job was done in a matter of minutes.

The trainer returned Kirlia, and motioned for me to do the same with Aron. "Kadabra, I need you to teleport us to the Centre on Rt. 14" he turned to address me, "hold tight to that Pokéball, and to my arm". The world went white again.

I blinked to clear my eyes, and found myself standing the lobby of a Pokémon Centre. Suddenly we were accosted by an irate Nurse,

"Jared, for the millionth time, no teleporting into the Centre! You know what it does to my nerves; you can teleport outside of the Centre to your heart's content, but not into the lobby!"

Jared quickly cut across her, "I know Nurse Joy, and I really am sorry, but this is an emergency!" He motioned to the Pokéball I held clutched to my chest, "Her Aron's in really bad condition and Leia can't do anything for it..." he tailed off helplessly.

We were quickly bustled into the examination room, where Nurse Joy had me release Aron onto the table so she could have a proper look at its injuries. Aron was soon being rushed into intensive care, a Blissey on either side of the trolley, Nurse Joy bringing up the rear.

Jared led me back to the lobby, and installed me in a chair with a cup of scalding hot tea from the vending machine.

"And now we wait... I'm Jared by the way, what's your name? I'd like to know which crazy person decided to wake me up with a full scale invasion of my campsite"

"Aliea, and I am sorry about that", I tried to look guilty, but I was too worried about the Aron to really try.

"Nice to meet you" he smiled, "now care to explain what you were doing running round the woods at night, injuring yourself and pissing off Zubat?"

I laughed, just relieved that that particular ordeal was over, "Um, it's kinda a long story...", and with that I told him everything, about the men, the Aron, right up until my unorthodox arrival at his camp.

"Hmm, it sounds like you were teleported here, but you're a long way from Hoenn now" he said once I'd finished.

"Teleported?" I was intrigued, of course some psychic Pokémon had the ability to teleport, but I'd never experienced it before.

"Yes, if a psychic Pokémon feel threatened, it will often teleport its way out of danger, that's why they're so stupidly difficult to catch; but if one feels that its nest is threatened, it will try and teleport away the threat, which I guess is what happened to you".

I thought about this for a second, it did make sense; "Well, in that case I have two questions".

"Shoot"

"One, where on earth am I; and two, if psychic types are so hard to catch, how come you have two?"

"To answer your first question: a Pokémon Centre about 3 days east of Fuchsia City in the Kanto region; as for your second, Ralts was a present from my parents, and Abra took me about three weeks of solid work to catch" he laughed at the recollection, "And now they're a Kadabra and a Kirlia! I didn't really start training until about two years ago, and it's amazing how quickly they get stronger".

At that point our conversation was cut short by Nurse Joy's reappearance.

A/N Hello again, hopefully you enjoyed this chapter as well! There's a little box somewhere around here that lets people review, I don't suppose you could help me look for it could you…? :P


	3. Thoughts and Interrogations

Chapter 3

At Nurse Joy's reappearance I had sprung to my feet, my heart throbbing painfully in my chest as I considered what she might be about to say.

"Please Nurse Joy, is he ok? Might I see him?"

Nurse Joy regarded me with a cold look, "He will be fine, once he's had some time to recover from his ordeal. As to whether or not you will be allowed to see him again, it rather depends on your explanation as to how he got into this state."

I sank back into my seat in shock, I was overjoyed that Aron would eventually be ok but horrified that Nurse Joy might think that I was responsible for Aron's injuries. What if she didn't believe me? Would she take him away?

Thankfully Jared spoke for me, allowing me a few seconds to pull myself together as he relayed to Nurse Joy everything I had just told him.

"…and then she came bursting into my camp like Arceus himself was on her tail! Kirlia and Kadabra fought off the zubat and then I took a look at Aron. It was obvious he needed immediate medical attention so we brought him straight here."

"It's true, Nurse Joy, I promise! I would never let a Pokémon get like that; please believe me when I say that I didn't do that to Aron. If having Kadabra read my mind or something will make you believe me then I'm more than happy to do it!" I burst out, I needed her to believe that I wasn't the sort of person who could have done that to a Pokémon.

Nurse Joy sighed, "I'm sorry for accusing you, but there has been a rise in attacks on Pokémon in recent months and all the Centres are a little on edge about it." She shook her head, "Either way, Aron won't be strong enough to see anyone until tomorrow morning at the earliest and you both look exhausted, let me go and see if we have two rooms free."

Nurse Joy crossed the empty lobby to the reception desk and started up the computer there. I hadn't noticed before how eerie the usually bustling space was when it was empty, and shivered.

Jared put a comforting arm around my shoulders, "That's a hell of a lot to go through in one day" he commented, "Do you want to call your father quickly and let him know you're ok?"

I shook my head, "He'd only be mad at me for catching a 'stupid Pokémon' like Aron anyway."

Jared looked confused, "But aron are really tough! Not to mention rare, why wouldn't he want you to have caught one?"

I laughed bitterly, "He only allowed me to go on this journey because he knew otherwise that I'd run away and go on it just the same, and the thought of what the sight of his precious daughter trekking penniless around the region would do for his reputation nearly gave him a fit. So I was allowed to go, he was even going to get me a "suitable" starter and draw up a list of "approved" Pokémon so that when I gave up and came back to work for his stupid company and attended his sodding dinner parties at least it would be with 'civilised' Pokémon like a vaporeon and a dratini trotting along behind me. The thought of my having something as un-lady-like as an aron would send him through the roof!"

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, "Sorry, you didn't need to hear my whole life story there, I guess I'm just a little worn out after today."

Jared smiled comfortingly and squeezed my shoulder, "I think you're quite entitled to be worn out after the day you've had, let's both go get some sleep and we can talk again in the morning."

He smiled again and turned towards Nurse Joy who was now walking towards us across the empty room, her arms full of bedding, towels, packets of Pokéchow, a few cereal bars and bottles of water and 2 room keys.

"There!" she exclaimed as she unceremoniously dumped the lot into Jared's arms, causing him to stagger slightly, "I've found you two rooms, you're on the ground floor and Jared is on the third."

I quickly untangled one set of bedclothes and a towel from the heap Jared was carrying before grabbing some food and my rucksack. After agreeing to meet Jared in the canteen for breakfast at 9 the next morning I gratefully allowed Nurse Joy to lead me to my room. The sounds of Jared's grumbles as he began to climb the stairs made us both laugh as they echoed down the corridors after us.

It was comforting to be alone in the little spartan room. I was on autopilot as I made the bed, had a shower and brushed the tangles out of my hair. It was only when I reached into my bag to find my toothbrush and my hand brushed up against my father's present that I began thinking again. I pulled it out and just stared at it for a few seconds. Did I want to open it? I dreaded what I might find; if it was a pokeball would I open it? What if I hated the Pokémon inside? Could I reject a Pokémon without ever even getting to know it or did that make me as shallow as my father? Part of me wanted to do this journey on my own, without my father's help or influence or starter.

I sighed and set aside the present. There were too many questions, I would think about them in the morning. In the meantime I tried to get a grip on my current situation. I knew I was in Kanto, a few days walk from Fuchsia City. From my limited knowledge of the geography of other regions, I knew I was in the south east of the region. The Fuchsia Gym was a Poison gym, if Aron was up to it that would be as good a place as any to start my gym challenge with his resistance to most poisons.

My heart tightened painfully as I thought of the few painful glimpses I had had of my starter. Even if he made a full physical recovery there could still be problems. Perhaps he would have developed a fear of humans from his treatment in the mine, I couldn't blame him but it would certainly make my life a lot harder. Also Aron were considered difficult Pokémon to raise, and I had never heard of someone attempting to use one as their starter. Their weaknesses to Fighting, Ground and Water types were problematic, as these were some of the most common types amongst low level trainers. Aron were also difficult to train due to their very slow evolutions. Unlike Bug types which could sometimes fully evolve within a fortnight, it could take years for aron to become aggron, and until then they lacked the power of a fully-evolved Pokémon.

These thoughts kept spinning round and round in my head until I finally decided that I didn't care. If Aron was scared of people I would just have to help him through it. If he was slow to grow and had several common type weaknesses then there was nothing I could really do about it. He was my first Pokémon, and I wasn't going to change him for a potentially easier model. With that thought, I drifted off to sleep.

A/N Ok Chapter 3 is done! Yay! I was wondering whether people thought I was making things too obvious in this chapter, if I had said "Aron are known to be difficult to raise" would you guys have understood why or just thought they were really bratty or something :P A bratty aron, that might be quite funny actually….. Any guesses/suggestions for what should be in the present are really useful, I know what I think it should be but if better idea comes along I will use it also (obviously) I do not own Pokémon etc, if I did Rhyperior would never have existed and there would be a cool ice/flying type which isn't a legendary or Delibird :P anyway, thanks for reading x


	4. Defeating a Monster

Chapter 4

My hands were gripping the metal bar which ran around the edge of the Challenger's Box painfully hard as I watched the two monsters struggling below me. So far the battle had gone well, but now both Pokémon were tiring.

"Use Aqua Tail, Gyarados!" I heard the opposing trainer shout across the stadium. I gritted my teeth, Aggron was tough, but there was only so much even he could take.

"Block him in with Stealth Rock, try and trap him in a corner!", I had to hope that Aggron would know what to do.

The gyarados swiftly moved towards Aggron, its long sinuous form appearing almost effortless as it moved.

Aggron bellowed and stamped the ground, as it did so hundreds of sharp jagged needles of rock were fired from the ground. Some broke harmlessly against Gyarados' scales, but most of the larger ones had enough force behind them to do some damage.

Gyarados hissed in anger. It swung around and tried to reach Aggron again. Once more Stealth Rock forced it backwards. Aggron began to move forwards, carefully blocking all Gyarados attempts to reach it. Within a few seconds Gyarados was effectively limited to moving across a quarter of the pitch, within another few seconds this space had shrunk again.

Gyarados' trainer saw what was going on from his vantage point before Gyarados did; franticly he called down to it:

"Quickly Gyarados, you have to use Hyper Beam, give it all you've got left!"

Gyarados' back was almost against the wall as it drew itself up to its full, imposing height. A glowing orb of light began to form in its mouth, growing larger by the second.

"Aggron, if you can take this we've won, brace yourself and just hold on for one more hit!"

Aggron bellowed in defiance and faced down the Gyarados. I felt myself start to shake in anticipation as Gyarados attack continued to grow. There was no point Aggron even attempting to dodge, he was too slow and heavy. I hoped he would be ok, not many Pokémon can remain standing after a gyarados' Hyper Beam to the face, but Aggron was the toughest Pokémon I knew.

An unnatural scream tore itself from Gyarados throat as it finally released the attack, I watched as Aggron dug in his heels and readied himself for the impact as the glowing ball of pure energy barrelled straight towards him. There was a deafening explosion as the attack connected, the smoke completely obscuring the field for a second.

When the smoke cleared it wasn't easy to tell which Pokémon was in a worse state. Gyarados was now propped up against the wall gasping as it tried to recover some of the energy it had expended in the attack. Aggron was still crouched in the middle of the field, only now he was in the centre of a large crater of scorched earth.

"Aggron!" I shouted, desperately hoping that somehow he had survived such an attack. Slowly he turned his mighty head to look at me, before slowly pulling himself to his knees, and then with a final push he regained his feet. He turned to face his opponent, and a low growl began to build in his chest. He took one step towards the gyarados; then another, then another. His growl steadily increased with his steps until he was charging at the gyarados with an earth-shaking roar.

Gyarados trainer was desperately calling commands to it, urging it to move but it was hopeless, all its energy had been used by that last mighty attack. He had gambled on Hyper Beam and lost. Aggron dipped his head and continued unstoppably towards the gyarados, there was no way it could survive the coming attack.

"Now Aggron, Head Smash!" I screamed, he already knew what to do but we were so close to victory I couldn't help myself.

The impact was immense, the floor shook and the reinforced wall behind gyarados splintered creating a fine spider web of cracks. Gyarados itself had obviously fainted, its limp form quickly recalled by its trainer.

Aggron turned and walked slowly back towards the centre of the arena, he threw back his head and roared his challenge to the sky.

I felt tears of happiness and pride spilling from my eyes as I swung myself over the railing and dropped to the floor of the arena. I staggered slightly on impact in my haste but picked myself up and ran towards where Aggron was waiting for me. He swung me easily up onto his shoulder and we faced the cheering crowds together as the cameras flashed.

A/N Ok so there has apparently been some confusion as to what on earth this chapter is doing here, basically I got bored and wanted to write an actual battle scene seeing as it might be another few chapters or so before I get to do one in this story (injured, mentally scarred Aron don't just jump out of bed and start instantly obeying their new trainer which they haven't even met properly yet!).

Seeing as the last thing Aliea did last chapter was fall asleep, and now she's battling with a full grown Aggron I was hoping the whole "dream" aspect would be obvious, but this is here just to make sure and avoid confusion Let me know if this way of writing battles works or if you think it should be more like the games (Aggron used Tackle. Gyarados used Surf. Aggron was hurt by Surf! etc), as always, please review! Is this story a waste of time for you to read and me to write or should I press ahead with chapter 5? x


	5. Meeting Aron

Chapter 5

When I woke up the next morning I was thoroughly disorientated for a few moments before the events of the previous day came flooding back. I jumped out of bed, desperate to go and see if Aron was ok, but my ankles were too firmly tangled in my bedding and I ended up flat on my back. Grumbling, I began to untangle myself. Once I was finally vertical I quickly brushed my hair, threw on a pair of jeans and made my way downstairs.

It was easy to find Nurse Joy as she was busy telling off a boy who, I gathered from their raised voices, had decided to battle with his injured growlithe despite the cast on its leg. The cast was now cracked and Nurse Joy was demanding to know whether there was any point in her trying to fix it again given the good care the trainer had taken of her work last time. Normally I would never have interrupted, but I was far too anxious to meet Aron to observe social niceties.

The boy shot me a grateful look as I diverted Nurse Joys attention. She smiled at me and retrieved Aron's pokeball from the storage facility behind the counter.

"I gave him another check-up this morning and he seems to be fine although I don't think he's had enough to eat for a few days at least. Aron are usually pretty good at digging out their own ores and metals to eat, but your Aron is probably a little iron deficient at the moment so I would invest in a good iron supplement for him when you're next near a Pokémart."

I smiled and thanked her again for taking such good care of Aron before she waved me away and resumed her assessment of the wounded growlithe. I started to head towards the pokecentre doors so I could have a few moments to meet Aron alone for the first time, when a familiar arm draped itself around my shoulders.

"You know, I never had you down as a morning person, given the hours at which you seem to enjoy rampaging around the woods waking innocent campers"

I attempted to look affronted at Jared's remark but the effect was rather ruined by the large yawn which chose that moment to make an entrance. Jared laughed,

"Lets grab some food and head outside so you can get to know Aron a bit," he began to steer me over to the canteen, "if it's ok I'll sit nearby so I can call out Kirlia or Kadabra if you want a Psychic there to translate."

It took me a few minutes to load up my tray with food. It had only taken me a few seconds to make a bee-line to the waffles for myself, but choosing food for Aron was a lot more difficult. I had no idea what he would like, so I picked up a range of different berries and Pokéchow to try and tempt him with.

Jared shot a pointed look at my waistline when he caught sight of my loaded tray before following me out into the bright sunshine. We chose one of the picnic tables furthest from the doors of the centre where we were least likely to be disturbed and sat down.

"Jared…." I chewed my lip nervously, "how do you think it's best to do this? I mean, I've never had that much actual contact with Pokémon before."

That was true, the only Pokémon I'd been able to interact with on a regular basis had been by father's Pokémon, and they all seemed to dislike me as much as he did.

He smiled encouragingly, "Probably the best thing to do is to sit on the grass so you're not towering over him. Offer him food and don't make any sudden movements or sounds, just keep talking gently to him."

It seemed good advice so I sat cross-legged down on the grass as Jared slid to the far end of the picnic table to observe. I took a few calming breaths as I looked down at Aron's pokeball, I had dreamt of meeting my first Pokémon for so long and now the moment was finally here. I smiled and gently tossed the pokeball onto the grass a few feet away from me. A beam of light emanated from the centre of the ball, and in the middle of it appeared my aron.

He was smaller than I remembered, he crouched low to the ground and looked around him with scared, wary eyes. I softly called his name and he turned sharply to face me, almost tripping over his feet in his haste to confront this new threat.

"Hey little guy" I murmured, "It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you I promise."

Slowly I reached towards the tray next to me and picked up a segment of oran berry. Aron nervously followed my every move, his eyes flicking from my face to my hand and back again. Slowly I brought the food out in front of me and threw it towards him. With a snort he backed off a few steps before looking back at me. He slowly approached the food, his eyes never leaving my face. He seemed confused when I didn't move and tilted his head slightly, but eventually he lowered his head and sniffed at the berry.

I had expected him to eat it, but instead he wrinkled his nose slightly and sat back, staring at my face. I was obviously too slow to respond as he sighed and looked down at the tray by my side, then back at my face before obviously looking back down at the floor in front of him.

Curious, I picked up a slice of pecha berry and tossed this over to him as well. This time he didn't flinch or hesitate as much as he walked over to it. He lowered his head and sniffed it, and this time also licked it a few times before he sat back and repeated the gesture.

Within a few minutes the ground around me was littered with different berries and types of Pokéchow, but still Aron hadn't done more than lick any single item of food I had throw him. I was glad he didn't seem afraid of me but I was perplexed as to what exactly he wanted. I knew he must be hungry, and just hoped that he wasn't going to turn out to be a fussy eater.

I looked at Jared in confusion, perhaps he had more idea of what was going on than I did, but he looked just as confused as I felt.

Aron had obviously decided that I wasn't going to give him what he wanted, because at that moment he chose to just get it himself. Calmly he trotted over to the tray I had prepared, put his feet up on the edge of my plate and took a huge happy bite of waffle.

**A/N**** I'm so sorry this has taken so long to update! My laptop died and I had to wait a few days to get a new one. I had the next three chapters all lined up but I've lost those now, I'll update again as soon as I can, please let me know what you think! Xxx**


	6. Plots, Plans and Waffles Galore!

Chapter 6

Jared let out a bark of laughter at Aron's behaviour and the shocked expression on my face. He hastily tried to smother it in case it spooked Aron, but Aron just looked up from his meal, glared at Jared and resumed eating. This caused Jared to laugh in earnest as I got to watch my little tyrant of a Pokémon devouring my breakfast.

I resigned myself to having lost the waffles to a good cause, and set about making a breakfast for myself out of the various berries lying scattered around me. I was down to my last slice of pinap berry when I felt something tugging at my leg. I looked down to see that Aron had grabbed a handful of my jeans in his mouth and was trying to attract my attention. As soon as I looked at him he started to stare at the berry in my hand, then at my face, then back at the berry. Apparently berries were fine as long as there was nothing more appetising around.

I reached out and surrendered the last of my berry to Aron, he chewed happily for a few seconds before swallowing it down and reclaiming his mouthful of denim. This time he didn't seem to be trying to attract my attention, more drag me towards the doors of the Pokécentre.

"Hey!" I laughed, "where are you off to?"

Aron looked at me, then at the Pokécentre, then resumed tugging.

"Ok, ok! Let me stand up and we can go over there, I don't want you ripping my jeans."

Aron reluctantly released my jeans and watched as I stood up and collected the tray. I turned to give Jared my evil look as I heard him mutter something about me being bossed around by my own Pokémon, but the effect was ruined by Aron resuming his vigorous tugging and me finding myself suddenly lying on my back. I heard a thump as Jared fell off the picnic table laughing.

This time I really did glare at him, "I thought you were meant to be helping! Shouldn't you be defending me against this little monster of something?"

"I think the only help my Pokémon and I could have given you is advising you which waffle topping is Aron's favourite" Jared teased.

At this moment Aron's face loomed into view above me as he scrambled onto my chest and glared down at me, obviously annoyed at the delay.

"Hey! Don't you glare at me like that, you were the one who pulled me over." I reached up and attempted to shift him off me so I could regain my feet, "Dear Goodness! You way a tonne for a little thing" I gasped as I struggled to lift him even an inch. I flopped back down, defeated. "Ok, you win. Let me up and we can go and get more waffles."

Aron almost fell off me in his haste to obey and I rolled my eyes. Just my luck to get a Pokémon which thought with its stomach rather than its brain.

I stood up and followed Aron towards the centre, he kept running back to me and giving my jeans a quick tug before running ahead again, he was scarily impatient to get his next serving of waffles. Jared caught up and walked along side me,

"Aliea...?"

"Yes, Jared?"

"Do you think Pokémon can get sugar-rushes as well as kids?"

"Oh god!" I dropped my head to my hands, "the last thing I need is that monster getting hyper!"

As cute as a hyper-Aron sounded, I had a feeling he would be difficult enough to deal with as it was with his bossy attitude.

When we entered the Pokécentre Aron headed straight for the canteen and using a simple method of communication (one tug meant yes, two tugs meant no, three tugs apparently meant I wasn't putting enough waffles/sauce/sprinkles on his plate) I was soon carrying two plates of waffles back to a table in the corner of the room. Jared was already there and had released Kadabra and Kirlia, who were eating some muesli and a small bowl of Pokéchow respectively.

I sat down and scooted along the bench slightly to give Aron room to jump up next to me, but it soon became apparent that he was too small to manage it, even with the promise of waffles hanging over his head. Thankfully Jared had Kadabra lift Aron onto the table for me, there was no way I could have lifted that lump all the way up onto the table.

Unfortunately Kadabra put Aron down right next to my plate of waffles, and I had to catch him practically mid-dive towards them. He pouted up at me.

"These are my waffles you twit, see? There are only two on the plate and no whipped cream." I swung him around to face the towering pile on the plate next to it, "and these are your waffles."

Aron was already straining towards the plate before I had finished talking, and I quickly released him so as not to be dragged across the table. Aron settled down to his second breakfast with a look of blissful happiness on his face.

"I'm not going to argue that he's not cute at the moment, but you might need to rent a waffle van or something when that thing turns into an aggron" Jared remarked. "Anyway, what are your plans from here on out?"

I had been thinking about what my next move might be. "Firstly I guess I need to register with the Kanto league, which means a trip to Pallet Town or Saffron." Both those places were a good few weeks walk away, and I would miss the opportunity to challenge several gyms on route.

"I forgot you didn't have a license yet! That could make things more complicated..." Jared thought for a moment, "Give me a moment? I'll be right back."

I watched Aron munching away happily for a minute before Jared returned, "Sorry for the wait, I just wanted to check something," he swung his leg back over the seat and sat down, "Professor Oak is going to be in Fuchsia City in a week's time for a few days at a conference according the League's website, you could always try and catch him there to register for the league."

"Thanks Jared, that would be great!" Fuchsia was only 3 or 4 days walk away, I would easily be able to make it in time.

Jared smiled, "If you'd like, I could drop him an email explaining that you'll try and meet him there, if you give me your email I can let you know if he gets back to me."

"Ok" I sighed happily, "that's registration and the next place I'm headed sorted out, what about you?"

"I'm going to head back to the woods and keep trying to find a Natu to join my team."

I had completely forgotten to wonder what Jared had been doing wondering around the woods miles from the nearest Pokécentre, but now it made sense. "Well I guess I'll stay here for a few more days before heading to Fuchsia, what about you?"

"I'll probably leave after breakfast if that's alright?"

Of course it was alright, as lovely and helpful as Jared had been, I quite wanted to start doing things for myself now. I smiled and thanked him before giving him my email address and telling him to let me know what the professor said.

After breakfast I recalled Aron to his Pokéball (he was covered in syrup and needed a wash before he was safe to have wandering about) and walked to the door with Jared. After letting him hug me and promising to keep in touch, I watched him release his two Pokémon, flash me one last smile, then teleport away.

**A/N**** Chapter 6 is done! Yay! I hope you guys are enjoying the story so far, I know not much happened this chapter, next chapter training starts and we (finally) find out what's in the present, plus Aron gets a bath! :) As always, please let me know what you think, it only takes a few seconds but it means more to me than you might think, just a "good job so far" would make my day. See you all in Chapter 7 in a few days! pineapple_pi x**


	7. Of Showers and Challenges

Chapter 7

Once Jared had left I returned to my room and called out Aron again. He seemed curious rather than worried as I tested the temperature and pressure of the hand-held shower on my hand before turning to him. This all changed in seconds when the water touched him. With a yelp he shot through my legs making a break for the door, this resulted in me falling over as I attempted to grab hold of a speeding, slippery aron and dropping the shower head. It in turn went crazy, spraying water all over the bathroom and ceiling causing the light to short.

It was dark, I was soaked and Aron had tried to bite me. Apparently Aron doesn't like water.

I recalled Aron and set about rescuing my stuff from the bathroom. I began to empty my bag out onto my bed to allow things to dry whilst I attempted to think of a plan. Eventually I decided that bribery was the best option, and collected all of the things I thought I might need.

When I released Aron again he growled at me for a few seconds before determining that there was no water nearby. He then promptly trotted over to my bag and stuck his whole head inside, presumably looking for food.

Thankfully I had removed all my food already, else there would be none left. I called Aron's name and tried not to laugh as he unsuccessfully tried to back out of my bag, resulting in him almost falling off the edge of the bed. I lunged towards him and just managed to prevent him falling, but in doing so I spilled some of the candy which I had been hiding in my lap. With a happy cry Aron propelled himself into space, staggering slightly as he landed before galloping over to the sweets now scattered about the floor. Well at least I knew he was tough.

I managed to grab most of the sweets before Aron got hold of them, and then waited until I had his attention. With me holding a small mountain of sugary goodness, that didn't take long. I carefully reached out and fed him one.

"Ok Aron, here's the deal," he looked up at me curiously as I spoke, "You're are horribly sticky from all of the waffles you demolished earlier, and you're not getting any more waffles or sugar or sweets or even berries until you are clean again."

Aron's face, which had been happy and slightly spaced-out as he reminisced about his breakfast, fell. If little metal monsters could have wobbly bottom lips, Aron did, but not even the puppy eyes were going to make me shift on this issue.

"I promise to be careful and to use as little water as I can, but you do need to be cleaned, and if you're good you can have this whole pile of sweets," I gestured to my hands.

Aron looked thoughtful, then sighed dejectedly and nodded.

"Good boy!" I smiled as I gave him another sweet, "Let's go get this over with."

Aron meekly followed me back into the bathroom and waited patiently as I wedged the door open with my rucksack to let some light in. He climbed into the shower when I asked, and stood very still, trembling slightly, as I started the shower again. This time I didn't use it directly on him and set the pressure as low as it could go, instead I used it to wet a flannel and used this to wipe him down. I then added soap to the washcloth, gave Aron another wipe, and then rinsed the cloth and made sure that no soap or stickiness remained on him.

After turning off the water, I fetched a warm fluffy towel and dried Aron off. He whined slightly as I took the towel away so I allowed him to make a small nest in it and placed the pile of sweets on the floor in front of him.

Whilst he was munching away happily, I got back to sorting through my bag.

I was busy digging through my bag looking for a change of clothes, seeing as my current ones were soaked, when I noticed the present from my father. I decided that the time had come to have a look at what was inside it, but it was still with some trepidation that I finally untied the ribbon and began to pull off the wrapping paper. My attention was temporarily distracted by Aron pulling at my jeans again, apparently he was curious too so I slid off the bed to sit cross-legged on the floor next to him. Aron scrambled into my lap for a better view. I tried to fill him in on who the present was from and what might be inside it as I pulled off the wrapping paper, but my thoughts were so jumbled that I didn't think that I'd done a very good job.

Inside the present was a box; and inside the box was an Egg.

Part of me was happy that I wouldn't be meeting the newest member of my team today, but I knew the real reason that it had been an egg rather than a Pokéball was to give my father the excuse to stop me starting my journey for another few weeks at least. Well now that was hardly a concern. I sighed and picked up the Egg. It was smooth and warm to the touch, and surprisingly heavy. It wasn't very large, either the Pokémon inside it would be tiny or it was going to take a while before it was ready to hatch.

I placed the egg on the floor for Aron to have a look at, warning him to be careful because there was a baby Pokémon in there. He seemed to understand as he sniffed it and gently prodded it with his nose, before starting to roll it back to his nest.

I laughed, "Hey! That's my Egg not yours." I quickly stole it back from Aron, "I need to take it down to the nurse to check that it's healthy, do you want to come with?"

Aron nodded an affirmative, so we left the room and headed back to the reception area.

As we entered the reception a boy rushed past us in the doorway, knocking into me and almost causing me to drop the Egg. Aron growled at him and viciously attacked the bottom of his jeans.

" I'm so sorry! Are you all ok?"

I picked myself up off the ground and Aron came back over to me, worriedly nuzzling my ankles. Whether it was due to concern for me or the Egg I wasn't sure, but it was a nice gesture anyway.

"I think I'm ok," I replied, one of my knees was aching slightly from its impact with the floor but it was hardly a serious injury.

"Hey! You're the girl with the aron from earlier," the short blond boy in front of me exclaimed, "is this him? He looks in great condition."

He reached out to pet Aron, who seemed torn between anger and pride at the compliment. Eventually he stood rather stiffly and allowed the boy to pet him.

"How about a match?" The boy asked, he obviously saw my expression and held up his hands with a laugh, "I'm not planning on using my Growlithe! Don't worry, but I do have one other Pokémon if you're interested...?"

"I need to find Nurse Joy and see what Aron thinks about it, but if he's up for it that would be fun," I smiled, "I'm Aliea by the way."

"Max" he offered a hand which I shook, "well I'll let you get on with things, but I'll be around in the cafeteria in about half an hour if Aron is interested."

With that he walked away.

**A/N**** I'm sorry this is a little late, ideas just weren't coming so sorry this is a little bit of nothing, I hope you enjoyed Aron's antics though! It's hard to convey a personality for a thing which doesn't speak, so please let me know if you think this is working. Next chapter: the Match! Any ideas as to which Pokémon Max uses to battle Aron would be appreciated (and please no legendaries! :P ) , I think that Aron is probably around level 10 at this point if that helps. If you have a second, please leave a review, they make me very happy :) pineapple_pi x**


	8. Battles and Biscuits

Chapter 8

It didn't take me long to locate Nurse Joy this time. She insisted on giving Aron a quick check-up as well as the Egg just to be on the safe side. She quickly returned Aron, declaring him to be perfectly healthy if still a little under-weight. It took much longer for her to finish examining the Egg,

"Sorry, it's just that Pokémon eggs are pretty rare, so I'm not as used to dealing with them as I am most Pokémon."

Eventually she handed the Egg back as well, "It seems to be developing as it should, although it is going to be a month or so before it hatches if I'm correct."

"Is there anything else you can tell me about it?" I was curious, and also if I wanted a balanced team it would be helpful to have an idea what might be inside.

"Well it's not a Fire or Ice type, I can tell you that much, the temperature's wrong. I'd also be surprised if it was a Flying type, it's too heavy for that, Flying types tend to have hollow bones so I would expect it to be lighter. It could always be something like a Skarmory but I would say it was unlikely."

I nodded, if it wasn't a Fire, Ice or Flying type then I could still think about catching some of those. Obviously the first two weren't really options at the moment as you tended to only find them in difficult0-to-reach areas where only accomplished trainers could travel, but a Flying type might still be useful.

"I wondered whether it would be ok to let the Professor know about your Egg and send him the details I have on it? He is studying them and I'm sure he would be interested, would that be ok?"

I replied that of course it would be ok before thanking Nurse Joy again and wandering outside with Aron.

"So buddy, what do you want to do about this match? I'm not going to make you fight if you don't want to, but it would be interesting to see how well you do."

Aron pawed the ground a couple of times before running head long into a tree stump, making the rotten wood explode and shower me with splinters and bugs.

"Aron!" I laughed as I hastily brushed myself down, "Careful! But I'll take that as meaning that you want to give it a go."

Aron nodded happily up at me, "Ok, I guess the first thing to do is work out what moves you've got, Max didn't have any gym badges either so you should have a decent chance of beating him."

I knew the unofficial rule that you didn't challenge someone with fewer badges than you, it stopped more experienced trainers making fortunes out of beating new trainers when they didn't have a hope of winning. You only ever challenged your level or higher, and it was a system that seemed to work.

Soon I had Aron practicing his moves against a slightly sturdier stump. I had asked him not to destroy this one as well but it was still looking a little battered by the time that I had worked out that Aron knew Headbutt, Mud-Slap, Harden and Tackle. At first his Mud-Slap was going wide of the trees I had him aim for, but with a few minutes work he was hitting them almost dead-centre each time. I was about to progress to tossing stones for him to try and hit in the air when I caught sight of my watch. I shrugged, we would have time to do some more practice later. I called Aron back over from where he had been rootling around in the undergrowth looking for berries, and we made our way back towards the centre.

Aron seemed to be excited rather than worried about the upcoming match, and I just hoped that he would do well. Obviously winning would be wonderful, but I was more worried about the effect it might have on Aron if he lost.

We met up with Max in the cafeteria where he was putting together a sandwich. Aron looked at me pleadingly so I passed him a hastily-made jam sandwich, with the promise of much more food after the match.

It was obvious that we couldn't have the match inside, Aron was already powerful enough to break a door or two if he hit one, and Max Pokémon could probably cause just as much havoc. We walked around the side of the Pokecentre to a clear patch of grass before backing away from each other until there was about 20ft between us.

I knelt down and stroked Aron's head, "Good luck little guy, I know you'll do brilliantly." Aron snorted softly as if to tell me that of course he would before licking my hand and trotting confidently out onto the field.

At the other end of the field Max grinned at me, tossing a Pokéball in his left hand. "You ready?" he called across the field, I nodded feeling nervous. He had the advantage of knowing what my Pokémon was, whereas he could have anything in that ball. If it was a Ground or Fighting type I was screwed.

I breathed a sigh of relief as a Chimchar burst onto the field. Aron might not be particularly strong against Fire types, but at least he wasn't at a huge disadvantage.

"Ok Aron, try using Headbutt!"

I was impressed that Aron had actually listened to me as he started barrelling across the field towards the Chimchar. I had expected it to try and dodge, but instead Max had it run towards Aron to try and use Scratch. I was confused, Scratch would d very little to Aron with his solid steel armour, but the Headbutt could do serious damage to the Chimchar. I shrugged, maybe Max was just being daft.

The two Pokémon collided, and it was easy to see which of the two of them was the worse for wear. Aron was hardly effected whereas Chimchar was limping slightly with one leg. Even with this handicap though it was still much faster than Aron. Max seemed to have learned his lesson as he now commanded Chimchar try and dodge Aron's attacks.

"Chimchar, let's use Ember" Max called from across the field, there was no way Aron would be able to dodge it.

"Aron, Mud-Slap now!" I had to hope that Chimchar might be less able to dodge any future attacks with its eyes full of dirt, all Aron's strangest attacks relied on being at close quarters and Chimchar could easily dodge away at the moment.

As the Mud-Slap connected I had Aron run towards Chimchar again, but this time it was ready and covered the ground with Embers as he approached. Aron slowed slightly and Chimchar used this opportunity to land Scratch after Scratch on Aron. Individually these attacks didn't have much effect, but so many would slowly wear Aron down. I saw him trying to back away from the onslaught but Chimchar just followed.

"Aron, use Harden! Keep using it until you're free"

"Stop it Chimchar!" Max sounded panicked, "Use Taunt"

Aron had managed to Harden his armour considerably when the Taunt took effect, his eyes hardened and he began to charge at the Chimchar again. It didn't seem as coordinated now, I guessed from the combination of exertion and Mud-Slap, and it stumbled as it attempted to dodge Aron's attack. Aron changed direction and was soon hurtling towards it again,

"Use Ember, bring him down Chimchar"

Aron ran straight through the burning cloud although I could see him grit his teeth as they touched him,

"Bring him down!"

Chimchar tried again to halt Aron's charge, but again Aron just kept on coming. When the Headbutt hit, Chimchar went skidding along the ground before weakly attempting to stagger to its feet. Aron circled round and seemed prepared for another attack but Max quickly recalled Chimchar. He strode across the field towards me, a grimace on his face.

"That was a good match, although I may have underestimated your Aron, he's pretty tough"

I sighed with relief, "I think I did as well, will Chimchar be ok?"

Max laughed, "Nurse Joy probably won't be thrilled with having to patch up another one of my Pokémon, but he'll be right as rain once she's had a look at him. I'm going to go find her now," he reached into his pocket and pulled out some Pokédollars, "Here, this is probably about what I owe you," and with that he walked away.

I stuffed the money into my pocket and crouched down to check on Aron,

"You were so tough, I thought you were finished when that second Ember hit you"

He glared at me as if to check whether I was being patronising, but crawled onto my lap anyway. He nuzzled at my pocket, I got the hint and fished out the chocolate biscuits which were hidden there. Somehow I felt he deserved them.

**A/N**** I know, I know, two chapters in one day is maybe a little much but I couldn't help it! After my lovely reviews I just wanted to keep going. I'm never going to say "five reviews for the next chapter" but any comments/suggestions/encouragement really do make me want to write some more. **

**I hope someone out there got my (slightly botched) Lord of the Rings reference in this chapter if not never mind, it made me grin when I wrote it. I also just wanted to say that the Professors in each region can give out any of the starters (so Professor Oak isn't limited to giving Bulbasaur, Charmander and Squirtle but could also give, say, a Tepig), I hope this explains why there is a low level Chimchar in Kanto!**

**Finally I'd like to dedicate this chapter to Tyhe2476, miclimp and Dragon Courage for their reviews, such speedy and helpful feedback made my day :) mental cookies go to all of you, pineapple_pi x**


	9. Baking, Battles and the Blues

Chapter 9

Aron and I remained sitting in comfortable silence for a few minutes, the only thing disturbing the peace was the occasionally nudge hinting that it was time for me to pass him another biscuit.

Eventually we stood up and I noticed Aron wince slightly as he regained his feet, he might have fared better than expected in his first battle but he hadn't come out of it unscathed. I mentally kicked myself for not immediately rushing him to see the Nurse once the battle had finished. I offered to recall him to his Pokéball to save him the walk back to the Pokécentre, but he refused and made the walk unaided, if a little slowly. I presumed it was pride which made him want to walk rather than be carried.

Inside the centre Nurse Joy assured me that Aron would be perfectly fine in a few minutes before bustling off to find some ointment for his aches and the scorch marks on his shell. When she returned she informed me that the Professor was interested in seeing how my Egg would develop, and had asked if Nurse Joy would pass my email onto him. I happily gave her my email to forward to the Professor, and whilst Aron was being taken care of I wondered over to the big TV in the entrance hall.

There was a tournament being beamed live from Saffron City , although I had missed the introduction so didn't know how many badges the contestants had to have to qualify. The battle I was watching (a Gengar vs. a Nidorino) came to an end as Aron happily trotted over to me, the Gengar easily toppling the Nidorino with a well times Shadow Ball. I motioned for Aron to join me on the couch but he was still too small to reach, so I recalled and then released him to save him the climb. He spent a few moments trampling down the cushions around him to his satisfaction before settling down to watch the competition with me.

I had meant to spend the rest of the day training, but now I had experienced battling first hand it was far too interesting watching these experienced trainers fight. Aron also seemed to be glued to the screen, and growled slightly as I momentarily blocked his view of a match when I went to grab a pen and some paper.

The only time I think Aron voluntarily looked away from the screen in 2 hours was to prod me to go and get him some food, but apart from that he wanted to watch all of the matches right until the very end. When the day's battles were done a tall guy with messy black hair and glasses was leading the scoreboard, his Sawsbuck having easily taking down the opposing Arbok in the last round.

I explained to Aron that the battles would start again tomorrow and we both went in search of food. Although it was really too early for supper neither of us had had much lunch, and we were starving. Thankfully there was a tiny kitchen available for trainers to use which was stocked with baking ingredients.

Aron had no idea what a "cupcake" was, but once I had explained that it involved lots and lots of sugar and sprinkles he was eager to help me make some.

Unfortunately Aron's idea of helping was more of a hindrance. He kept putting his feet up on the sides of the mixing bowl to see if the cakes were ready yet, almost knocking it to the floor several times. He also decided that I hadn't added enough sugar to the cupcakes, and sulked for a good 5 minutes before I added some more and promised that he could be in charge of icing and sprinkles.

Finally though the cakes were in the oven, Aron's face was glued to the oven door fascinated at seeing the mixture rise. I called him away and set him on the counter top, I explained what icing was and that it wasn't mean to be 100% sugar before following his instructions as precisely as I could given that he was effectively miming them.

By the time the cupcakes were done we were both covered in frosting and cake mixture from licking out both the mixing bowls, and me testing my piping skills on Aron. Aron proudly pulled the tray of cupcakes out of the oven with his mouth and passed them up to me. As he was decorator extraordinaire it was up to him to determine how much icing and sprinkles went on each cake, but I had to wrestle the piping bag of icing away from him and do that part myself after he had attempted to ice the cakes by just pointing the nozzle in their general direction and then belly-flopping onto the bag. Needless to say, icing went everywhere.

Eventually we sat back and surveyed the damage. Aron was covered in cake mix, with a pretty swirl of icing on his head topped with sprinkles. He kept unsuccessfully sticking out his tongue attempting to lick it off, but as far as I knew aron couldn't lick their foreheads so it would be there for a while. The cupcakes looked interesting, somehow I didn't think Aron was going to make it as a cake decorator seeing as his sole objective seemed to be fitting as much sugar as possible onto each cake rather than aesthetics. The Egg had ended up with an icing moustache, I was blaming that on Aron.

After a wipe down of the kitchen and the Egg, and several cupcakes "magically" disappearing, I put the rest of them onto a tray which Aron proudly carried into the reception for me. He offered one to Nurse Joy and I explained that it was to say thank you for helping him. She looked quite emotional, but then that could be because she was trying not to laugh at the icing-covered Pokémon in front of her.

It was a few hours later when Aron had finished off the last of the cupcakes and consented to another shower that I noticed that something was wrong. Instead of snoring or badgering me for food he seemed sad as he lay curled up on my bed next to me.

"What's wrong, Aron?" I asked softly, "Are you feeling ok?"

He nodded miserably.

"So what's bothering you?"

He looked around as it to try and find some way to explain it to me, then spotted my book on Pokémon tucked into the side of my rucksack. He jumped down off the bed and dragged it over to me. When both Aron and the book were settled on the bed next to me, Aron gestured for me to open the book.

**A/N**** Ok I know this is short, but after 2 chapters yesterday I though you guys could deal with it :P Any ideas what might be wrong with Aron? (and no, it's not sugar-poisoning, does that even exist?) Also I have amazing news: this story has had nearly 20 reviews and nearly 100 visitors! Will this be the chapter to hit those numbers? I'm trying to think of a suitable incentive to offer the 100th reviewer, but I can't think of one :/ incidentally I'm going to need some OCs over the course of the next few chapters, if anyone has any ideas please let me know! Thanks again for reading this, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, pineapple_pi x**


	10. Drawings and Dreams

Chapter 10

Aron motioned for me to slowly turn the pages of the book. When I turned over to the page with a Charizard on it Aron made a gesture as if to indicate that that particular page was important, before motioning me to continue. He repeated this gesture on the pages for Raticate, Arbok, , Nidorino, Dodrio, Gengar, Heracross, Swampert and several others. When we reached the page for Aron he slowly stroked his paw over the picture, then hung his head.

I thought for a minute as I stroked Aron, what was it that all of those Pokémon had in common that Aron didn't have? I tried to think back to what I knew of the Pokémon he had picked, they were all quite strong Pokémon, ones which a trainer might well have rather than a breeder or a contestant. I thought back to that matches we had seen earlier, that Gengar had been really strong, I wondered where I could get one...

And then it hit me.

All of the Pokémon Aron had pointed out had been battling on the TV, but he hadn't seen any Aron up there. Was he worried that this meant he wasn't as good as these other Pokémon?

"Are you worried because you didn't see any Aron fighting today?"

Aron nodded sadly before resuming staring at his feet.

"Oh..." I just wanted to hug him, how could he be worried about something like this?

"It's ok, just because none of those trainers had an aron doesn't mean that they didn't want one, aron are really strong,"

Aron peeked at my face as if to check whether or not I was lying,

"I'm not lying, I promise. Aron are really strong Pokémon, but you guys are pretty rare even in Hoenn and most of the trainers in the competition looked like they came from Kanto, I would have been surprised if any of them had had an Aron."

Aron perked up slightly at this, but he still didn't look convinced.

"Anyway, even if any of those trainers had had an Aron, it wouldn't still be one at that level, not if one of the trainers was using Charizard," I flipped over the page to show Aron the double page spread with Lairon on one side and Aggron on the other, "If we ever compete at that level, you will be at least a Lairon."

Aron's eyes were wide as he looked at the pictures of his next two evolutions, he looked slowly up at my face and then back down to the book, his eyes shining slightly.

I gave him a one armed hug as I watched him look at his future evolutions. I had naively presumed that Aron would know what he would evolve into, in the same way that I presumed that he would know about other Pokémon.

I started off by explaining about the 17 different types and how they worked against each other, Aron obviously couldn't read so I made him a key with the different colours the book used to illustrate each type, and next to each I drew a small picture to help Aron remember what it meant. Grass got a leaf, Fire a small flame, Flying a feather and so one. Some types were obviously much more difficult than others, but with Aron's input we finally had a drawing for each type. Aron seemed confused when I said that Fire would be super-effective on Steel and nudged my leg, tilting his head slightly as he looked up at me, obviously thinking back to his earlier match with the Chimchar. I smiled as I flicked back to the page which Aron was on, I was glad that he interested and also seemed to be understanding everything and contributing.

"See here, which types does it have listed under Aron?"

Aron pulled his little key over the page in his mouth, before using a paw to gesture to the Steel and Rock pictures.

"Exactly, whilst Fire is strong against Steel, it is weak against Rock. Because you are both Rock and Steel these two things cancel out, meaning that Fire ends up effecting you normally."

Aron seemed to think about this for a few seconds and then nodded happily.

It took us quite a while to draw up a complete table of all the different type advantages and disadvantages, and this was further complicated by having t explain the concept of Immunities and Abilities to Aron, but he seemed to keep up pretty well.

Aron then gestured towards the arrows linking the different pictures in the same evolutionary family, again looking curious. I looked at my watch, it was 11pm but Aron seemed wide awake and eager to learn. With a shrug, I started to explain about the different methods of evolution. When I had finished, Aron looked at me eagerly and gestured to himself. I laughed,

"I'm afraid we can't just find you a Stone and get you to evolve any time soon, Aron take a long time to become Lairon, and then some more time to turn into Aggron."

Aron's face fell,

"It's ok though, the reason you will take so long to evolve is because Aggron are so strong. It takes a long time to build up that much muscle and armour and experience."

Aron nodded wisely.

"Look, you see Caterpie?"

Aron nodded again,

"Well this little number here says that Caterpie evolve at around level 7, and then again at level 11. Now look at Aron, you evolve at level 32 and 42. That's much higher than a Caterpie. These numbers are only rough guides to illustrate the different difficulties of raising a Pokémon, but they're a good starting point. Now look at Butterfree's stats," I gestured towards the little tally marks along the side of the page, "Compare them to Aggron's, can you see how much stronger an Aggron is compared to a Butterfree?"

Aron puffed out his chest in pride making me laugh,

"That doesn't always mean that an Aggron will win against a Butterfree though, but they do tend to be stronger."

Aron then demanded a brief explanation of the different stats which I gave him, illustrating the differences between Special Attacks and Physical Attacks using the example of a Chimchar's Ember and Scratch.

"There's probably something you need to remember," I started slowly, trying to choose my words carefully, "Do you want to help me catch other Pokémon to join our team?"

Aron nodded eagerly and gestured for me to start flipping through the book as if to start choosing which friends we should find next.

I smiled at his eagerness, "You just need to remember that any new Pokémon we catch might evolve before you do, and I don't want that to make you sad or jealous. You're my starter, you'll always be special to me and I don't care when you evolve, or even if you decide not to evolve at all. Try and remember that for me?"

Aron nodded seriously and we both settled down to sleep.

All was peaceful until Aron decided to steal one of my pillows. Grudgingly I gave it up and looked over to see him gazing again at the page with the Aggron on it. With a smile, I lay back down and fell asleep.

**A/N**** Was that too boring? I'm sorry, I hope it wasn't but I always thought it would be weird for Pokémon to understand all of these things like type-advantages without being told. I hope that also cleared up some confusion as to why Chimchar's Fire attacks n the last chapter weren't super effective against Aron despite Aron being part Steel. I know there is rumoured to be an 18th (Fairy) Type coming out in Generation 6, but for now there are only 17 types so I'm sticking with that. Next chapter: the real journey begins! Yay! Hopefully that is more than enough scene setting, let me know what you think :) pineapple_pi x**


	11. The Journey Begins

Chapter 11

The next morning I was woken with a crash as the book finally slid off Aron's head and onto the floor. Aron woke up with an undignified yelp and attempted t burrow his way to safety under the covers.

I laughed as I dragged him out by his back legs,

"Good morning handsome, how are you feeling?"

Aron glared up at me through sleepy eyes and tried again to work his way under the covers. I decided to let him sleep whilst I re-packed my rucksack, had a quick shower and double-checked the route we were going to take. Finally I tried to wake Aron up again. He really didn't want to get up, and it was only through a combination of bribery and resorting the stealing the duvet that I eventually managed to get him out of bed.

After another enormous breakfast of waffles for Aron, and a slightly more normal sized portion for me, we were finally ready to hit the road. We said our goodbyes to Nurse Joy, paid for our room and were nearly out of the door before I decided to quickly check my emails before we left.

There were three new emails in my inbox. With a sigh I decided to leave my father's email for last, and instead opened the Professors email.

A few moments later I sat back and smiled. The Professor said that he would be more than happy to meet me in 6 days time in Fuchsia City and requested that I bring the Egg along to our meeting. He was also happy to officially register me with the Kanto League during our visit. I quickly typed a reply thanking him for his time and asking him to specify where and when we should meet, then I opened Jared's email.

Apparently he still hadn't had any luck with the Natu despite having seen a few. He hoped I was ok and that Aron wasn't causing too much havoc and/or hadn't eaten the Pokecentre out of waffles yet. I filled him in on what had been going on and said that I hoped the Natu would become more cooperative soon.

Then the only email which was left was my father's:

Aliea,

As you might expect, I am most disappointed with your behaviour. I have heard a report from the mine supervisor and expect you to return home immediately. A full apology must of course be made to all involved. I am seriously contemplating banning you entering the League now, and such wilful and disobedient behaviour hardly helps your case.

Yours sincerely,

Father

I was shaking as I finished reading his brusque email. I hardly cared about what story the mine workers had made up which would necessitate me apologising to them, but he hadn't even asked whether I was ok. He was treating me like a child, and whilst I knew that 16 was hardly old it still grated. Angrily I read the email to Aron, who sniffed and stuck his nose in the air; he obviously didn't think much of it either.

It was therefore in slightly less than good humour that we finally started out on our journey together, but the sunny weather and Aron's antics conspired to cheer me up in no time. I estimated that it would take us two days walking to reach the next Pokecentre on Route 15, and from there it should be a day's walk to Fuchsia.

Route 14 was a lovely coastal route, with cliffs leading down to a glittering blue sea one side and tussock-y grass on the other as far as the eye could see. Aron had great fun diving in and out of the empty Sandshrew burrows along the side of the path, hiding in them and then attacking my jeans as I walked past.

We stopped for lunch on a little outcrop overlooking the sea and sat down to share some sandwiches and water. I had planned on bringing some of the cupcakes with us, but they had all vanished without a trace earlier in the morning, unless you counted the frosting around Aron's mouth.

Watching Aron attempt to drink from a bottle of water was amusing. The first few times he managed to pour the water all over his own head rather than into his mouth, but unfortunately he learned quickly and soon my amusement was brought to an end.

The route was relatively empty as we walked along it, the few other trainers were happy just to wave and keep walking. There were several fisherman along the edge of the route who I was sure would be happy to battle if I asked, but despite Aron needing all the practice he could get, I wasn't prepared to put him up against a Water type, even a freshly caught one.

Throughout the day we made sure to stop whenever we found a suitable rock or tree for aron to practice with. Soon his Headbutts were noticeably more powerful, and his Mud-Slaps were almost always on target. He eventually progressed to hitting stones out of the air as I threw them for him, and his aim was perfect nine times out of ten.

It was whilst we were practicing like this that a shout came from ahead of us,

"Hey! You!"

I looked up curiously and Aron decided to hit me with a well-aimed Mud-Slap, obviously annoyed at having had his game interrupted. By the time I had picked myself up and brushed myself down the girl who had called to me was within normal talking distance.

"Hey, I'm Danielle, I wondered if you felt like a battle?"

I looked down at Aron, who at least had the grace to look a little guilty for hitting me.

"What about it buddy? You up for another battle?"

Aron nodded eagerly, but I was a little worried. We were quite a way from a Pokecentre, I would have to be careful and stop the battle before Aron got too injured. Danielle seemed to read my mind,

"Don't worry, I don't mean a serious battle until one of the Pokémon can't fight any more, more like a friendly training session."

I smiled, "Sure, that sounds like fun."

As we backed up a little bit to make space for the match, I stumbled as my foot sank into one of the nearly-concealed Sandshrew holes that Aron had been playing in earlier. I grinned a little as an idea struck me, and I quickly communicated it to Aron. He nodded eagerly, but before I could do anything other than give him a quick hug Danielle had sent her Pokémon out onto the field.

**A/N**** And they're off! Finally :P I hope most of you guys are still with me, let me know what you think about the start of their journey! Danielle is an example of the sort of OC I need at the moment, if you have any lying around please do let me know, if you could let me have one or two adjectives that describe them, a name and a Pokémon or two that would be great! I can't promise that I'll use them but I'll certainly try. Aron is still around level 10 here so please don't go suggesting he battle a Charizard, although if you have any ideas as to why they might bump into a trainer with a Charizard and say hi then that's great too! Updates might slow slightly over the next few days but I'm still aiming for at least one every other day, so please don't hate me if they're not daily for a little while. Also, I really need some suggestions for which Pokémon Danielle is going to use in the coming battle, I genuinely have no idea what it will be so please leave me a review and let me know what you think! As always, thank you so much for reading, I hope you've enjoyed the story so far, pineapple_pi x**


	12. Venonats and Victory

Chapter 12

"Come on out Peaches!" Danielle called as she tossed her Pokéball onto the field.

My heart sank as I saw its occupant. A Corsola had just materialised onto the field, it sent Aron a happy grin before looking to Danielle for instructions.

I took a deep breath, at least Corsola were part Rock as well as Water, it wasn't as bad as it could have been.

"Ok Aron, let's start with Mud-Slap"

Aron quickly complied, a hard clump of earth promptly hitting the Corsola in the face. It growled angrily at Aron.

"Use Bubble, Peaches" Danielle called from across the field.

"Ok Aron, time for evasive action!"

Aron stood his ground and kept firing off Mud-Slaps until the wall of bubbles was almost upon him and he was obscured from his opponent's view. Quickly he dived down one of the burrows scattered across the field. Aron had an excellent sense of direction underground, apparently it was something to do with magnetism and being made of iron, and he was going at quite some speed by the time he emerged from a burrow behind Peaches.

Danielle squeaked with surprise but it was too late, Aron crashed into the Corsola with a powerful Headbutt before Peaches even started to turn around.

Peaches flew across the field before staggering to her feet. She glowered at Aron and sent another steam of Bubbles in his direction. Again Aron went underground, this time emerging only a few feet in front of her to Headbutt her again.

Once more Corsola tried to hit Aron with Bubble, and Aron avoided it and attacked with Headbutt. By now Corsola was tiring and I was sure another hit would end the match. Aron was in comparatively good condition, looking only a little tired and damp from the few bubbles which had managed to reach him.

"Peaches, ring yourself with Bubbles and use Recover!"

Oops. I had forgotten that Corsola could recover lost health during battle using Recover, and the Bubbles would prevent Aron reaching her in time to prevent it. I bit my lip, I could risk having him charge straight through the Bubbles but I didn't know how he would react to that much water, it could well finish him off.

By now Bubbles were issuing again from Corsola's mouth.

"Quickly Aron, use Mud-Slap to burst the Bubbles!"

Thankfully all the practice had made Aron highly accurate, and he was soon popping bubbles fast enough that there was a clearing in the ring facing him.

"Now Headbutt, as hard as you can"

Sparks were already beginning to flow over Peaches form, wiping away the bruises and scrapes from the battle.

Aron charged full-tilt towards her, The force of the attack was impressive, but Peaches was still hanging on.

"Come on Aron, we have to bring her down before she can heal herself"

But what could Aron do? All of his attacks were ranged and he was now lying right on top of the Corsola.

Suddenly he screwed up his face with effort, and his front paw began to glow silver. With a huge effort he brought it round and dragged it across Corsola's body.

With a cry Corsola wriggled free and stumbled back to Danielle, leaving Aron tired but triumphant in the middle of the field. I knelt down and hugged him as he returned to my side,

"That was brilliant, I didn't think you would learn Metal Claw for weeks."

Aron made a happy noise and licked my face, making me laugh.

"Ok, let's not let that ego got too big..."

I grabbed an Oran berry out of my bag and fed it segment by segment to Aron, he visibly perked up and was back to his usual self by the time Danielle reached us.

She held out a hand which I gladly took and helped pull me to my feet. Corsola was hugging her leg, peering shyly out at Aron.

"That was a really good match, I'd completely forgotten Corsola could use Recover, I won't forget that again in a hurry!"

Danielle smiled, "It's really useful, and saves me a fortune on Potions", she gestured to the darkening sky above us, "Do you want to stick together and set up camp for the night? It can get kinda lonely out here."

I gladly agreed and soon Aron was warming himself by the fire whilst Danielle's Corsola and Mareep sat nearby. I smiled as I watched the three Pokémon chatting, it would be nice to have a team of my own.

Danielle and I spoke easily as we ate supper and got out our sleeping bags. She seemed nice and was heading in the opposite direction up towards Lavender Town hoping to catch a rare Misdreavus to add to her team, and we passed the time discussing which Pokémon I should try and get next.

It wasn't long afterwards that we decided to call it a night. Aron came and curled up in my sleeping bag, I would have kicked him out once he started snoring but he was warm from the fire and I liked having my own little hot waterbottle there. It might have been summer but it was still cold when the sun went down.

When I woke up it was still dark. I lay still for nearly a minute, hearing nothing but soft breathing and Aron's snores. I decided it was just chance I had woken up and was drifting back to sleep when I heard a noise behind me.

I froze, it hadn't sounded threatening but in the darkness everything was frightening. Very slowly, I rolled over to face the fire.

Standing facing me across the fire with some of the leftover food in its little paws, was a Venonat. The tiny bug Pokémon was munching away happily. I tried to silently wake Aron, Venonat were quite rare and I had always liked them.

Aron awoke with a grumble but quickly quietened as he sensed my excitement. Slowly he too raised his head to look at the intruder.

"Use a Mud-Slap to disorientate it, hopefully then we will be able to catch it but if not focus on keeping it near the fire rather than injuring it too much, we can get it eventually I'm sure," I whispered, Aron nodded and softly got to his feet.

I groped around for a few seconds before my fingers closed around the cool, hard exterior of a Pokéball.

"Let's go!" I called to Aron, Venonat let out a startled squeal before turning to face the noise, but before he could spot me Aron had hit it in the face with a Mud-Slap. Temporarily blinded, the Venonat let out a piercing cry.

Aron dropped back, surprised. Usually wild Pokémon, whilst not necessarily aggressive, would fight back if attacked by another Pokémon. Why was Venonat just sitting there?

It's shrill cry woke Danielle, just in time for a huge shape to come barrelling into her. Mareep decided that her trainer was being attacked and retaliated with a vicious ThunderShock. All the while Venonat kept wailing.

"Ow, what in heaven's name was that for?" a distinctly male voice asked. On hearing it, Venonat gave a joyful cry and toddled over to the fallen heap, nuzzling it and making happy little chirrups under its breath.

Danielle sat up rubbing her leg, "I agree, would someone like to explain why I was just woken up by a mountain falling on me? I'm pretty sure I was n Route 14 last time I checked."

The man laughed, embarrassed; "Sorry, I think I tripped over you there when I can looking for Venonat."

Aron had returned sulkily over to me, "Sorry little guy, I guess it's no new teammate for us today."

Danielle stoked up the fire to give us some light, assisted by a Mothim which was using its wings to fan the flames. The large man was called Dennis, and from the Venonat and Mothim fluttering around him I decided he was a bug-catcher of some kind. Apparently the baby Venonat was so young it's only response to being attacked had been to cry for help.

I apologised several times for attacking the little bug, but Dennis just laughed and waved away my apologies, insisting instead that he should be the one apologising for his Venonat eating a sizeable chunk of our food and then him tripping over Danielle.

Eventually Dennis dragged his stuff over to our camp, and we all settled down to sleep again. The fire burnt low and silence returned to the camp.

"Better luck next time, huh?"

Aron nodded and yawned,

"Sleep tight little buddy."

**A/N**** I know I'm a horrible person for not updating for a while (I did warn you even if it took longer than I thought!), it was the end of term so I had to clear out my room etc etc, either way I'm home now. I hope you didn't find the chapter too boring, I've always loved Venonat but it somehow didn't fit into my team, I couldn't resist sticking one in the story anyway :) It makes sense to me that Aron would have a good sense of direction underground, can I presume that the Iron in their bodies might somehow act as a compass or doesn't that work? Let me know, as always, reviews/comments/criticisms/publishing deals are always welcome :P hopefully the next chapter will be posted quicker than this one, pineapple_ pi x**


End file.
